18-97-9-175.crawl.commoncrawl.org | ToothyWiki | RecentChanges | Login | Advent calendar | Webcomic The most famous of Jane Austen's novels. Why did no one tell me it was so good? I hated it at school, dreaded re-reading it -- and after two pages was chuckling uncontrollably.
A masterpiece.
A man and a woman don't get on. He learns that to win her heart he'll have to reform. She learns that he has reformed. They fall in love. You can see why it's a hit with the ladies, can't you? --SGB
Brought bang up to date, while sacrificing little of the Edwardian setting. All of the classic lines are there - but the actors (and direction) bring it alive with a massed variety of tones and expressions which never really work in long-winded text.
Edwardian? Doesn't that usually mean early 20th century? --Rachael
Yes. Regency is probably the word the OP was looking for. --SF
Absolutely hilarious. Unexpectedly hilarious. Had much of the cinema in giggles.
The contrast of scenery to action is heavy handed (Wham! Metaphor!) but still nice. The emotion is nice.
As an example of the changes - there is no pretence from the very beginning as to which girl is to end up with which man - the audience knows, the ScriptWriter? knows they know - and it comes across almost as a shared secret.
Oh - and despite being long (two solid hours) it rarely loses pace.
Anyway - well worth a look see. Even if (perhaps especially if) like me, you hated the book.
How does it compare with the BBC adaptation (Colin Firth, etc.)? --FR
I honestly couldn't say. It's very very funny, and pretty moving. There's lots of wonderful old stately homes (all mashed together into one uber stately home, of course) and scenery and... Well, I'm pretty sure the BBC portrayed Darcy as more 'taciturn' and less 'amusingly shy'. --Vitenka
Reports I heard pegged it as ' Pride and Prejudice, spelled out very slowly and in big letters for Americans.' --ChiarkPerson
This is true - it is bold and bigger than life. --Vitenka
Because the book is completely impenetrable. I honestly did not know that the book was meant to be a comedy. Because it was too huge and overblown. (And because we were forced to read it in school) --Vitenka
It was meant to be a comedy?! That book had me in tears! --Edith
Well, the film certainly is. I agree that I was unable to find any humour in the book. --Vitenka
I suspect the 'forced to read it in school' may well be a deciding factor here. Personally, it is probably one of my favourite books of all time, though I will admit that I only read it after having seen the BBC version. --K